


sometimes, when something is so beautiful

by megyal



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-17
Updated: 2007-01-17
Packaged: 2017-10-11 14:18:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/113295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megyal/pseuds/megyal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><strong>Beta:</strong> the lovely <a href="http://mirrorwakes.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://mirrorwakes.livejournal.com/"><strong>mirrorwakes</strong></a>, whom I managed to gross out and cause to grin widely in one fic. Bonus points for me!</p><p> </p><p><strong>Dedicated:</strong> to <a href="http://gamblore.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://gamblore.livejournal.com/"><strong>gamblore</strong></a>, who read this over as well and liked it.</p>
    </blockquote>





	sometimes, when something is so beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> **Beta:** the lovely [](http://mirrorwakes.livejournal.com/profile)[**mirrorwakes**](http://mirrorwakes.livejournal.com/), whom I managed to gross out and cause to grin widely in one fic. Bonus points for me!
> 
>  
> 
> **Dedicated:** to [](http://gamblore.livejournal.com/profile)[**gamblore**](http://gamblore.livejournal.com/), who read this over as well and liked it.

Draco finally managed to catch up with Harry Potter in a large Muggle market after quite a few days of tailing him. Days of passive lurking, trying to corner him without a bodyguard. Potter's hair had grown longer, its new length giving it a smooth black wave, rather a than crazy curl, those sharp green eyes hidden behind the large square frames of heavily tinted shades. Draco ran a hand through his own hair, the platinum spelled into a shade as black as Potter's, loose strands cutting across his forehead. Time for a little test.

"Harry? Harry Potter?" He soaked his voice in friendliness, removing his own glasses and smiling as Potter turned and looked right into his face. Potter propped his glasses up on his head and squinted at him, rays of morning sunlight falling through the market trellis and setting off strange gold highlights in his hair. Instead of scowling, a fairly normal reaction that Draco had his wand ready for, Potter gave a tentative smile, his hand still full of a bunch of yellow-ripe bananas that he had picked up just before to weigh.

"Hi," Potter said. "Do I know you?" He tilted his head and Draco hid his smile, putting his hands in his jeans pockets. So, the information they received was true. Even with his black hair and his eyes dark-blue (Muggle contact lenses, eye-colour charms always hurt his head), there was no way Potter could have missed him at this distance.

"We used to go to school together," Draco said smoothly and Potter frowned, pulling back a little. "With your cousin? Dumley, or something like that?"

"Dudley," Harry corrected automatically, his pose relaxing visibly. "I thought you meant...upper school." Potter gave him a dazzling, open smile and Draco felt it hit him across his face. "Remind me of your name again? I had an accident, I don't know if you knew...my memory is not so good."

"Dra-" Draco cut himself off quickly, closing his eyes briefly at the near-slip, but Harry had been peering at the cantaloupes.

"Dre?" he said now, pressing at the melons with a forefinger that was long and slender. "Short for Andre?"

Draco smiled again and Potter gave him a sideways grin. "Got it in one, Harry. Are you...are you free for some lunch?"

***

Harry was humming merrily over some linguini and giggling at every corny joke Draco made. His eyes were bright and constantly fixed on Draco's, not in distrust or hate, but in a warm delight that was a little too much for Draco to handle.

"The doctors are pretty confused. It's like my proper memory stops at ten, you know? May I taste that?" When Draco nodded, Harry reached over and speared a sliver of crabmeat with his fork, nibbling delicately. "Mmm. I should have ordered that. I mean, I'm twenty-one. I _know_ I'm twenty-one, I act like a twenty-one year old, everything in place...but I've just lost a huge chunk of time, and everything began again a few months ago." He bit at his lip and then smiled. "I don't even remember what high school I went to. My friend Hermione, I live with her and her boyfriend now, she tells me we went to some boarding school in Scotland."

"Really?" Draco said, sipping some wine. "What's the name of it?"

Harry's face shuttered quickly and he pushed at the food in his plate. Draco held his breath, just a little.

"Doesn't matter," Harry murmured. "I don't remember anything there anyway. It's supposed to be... _magical_...the best years of your life, and I can't recall any of it." He gave Draco a perplexed gaze. "Funny thing is, I don't really remember you either. I'm sorry, but I know what I have left of my memory is pretty fine...and I can't seem to place an Andre Malloy."

Draco shrugged, hiding behind his wine-glass. Harry's eyes were still locked with his own.

"I really didn't mean to offend you." Harry's voice was low, soft. Stroking over Draco's ears and slipping in gently. "I think I would remember someone like you."

Draco smiled slightly and then shook his head.

"That's quite alright, Harry. I haven't forgotten _you_."

Harry grinned widely, stole another bit of crabmeat out of Draco's plate, and prattled on happily about his friends, the strange cat Hermione had and a beautiful white owl that always wanted to land on Harry's shoulder when he came out of the flat. Draco couldn't eat and Harry wolfed down his portion, smiling every time he looked up and their eyes caught. Draco couldn't look away. He didn't realize the power of a smile when it was coming from Harry. All those years of glaring at each other and he had not known how Harry's eyes slanted when he grinned, how he snorted when he was laughing far too hard; how he _touched_, in a deeply unconscious motion, when he was gossiping about the people passing them by. At one point, Harry actually rested his warm hand on top of Draco's, squeezing a little as he surreptitiously pointed out a group of sallow teenagers passing by in what looked like torture-gear: metal hoops, ripped clothing, spiky hair. Surprisingly; Potter had a sly streak in him a mile wide. He was making awfully snide comments about passersby, setting off a rumble of chuckles in Draco who had not laughed like that in a long time. Not that he had any right to laugh now, but Draco couldn't help it. Harry, _this_ Harry, was amusing.

And attractive.

Draco consulted his watch in desperation, trying not to see Harry's disappointed face. "I have to go back home...I have to catch an overseas call."

Harry looked crestfallen and yet delighted. "You live nearby here? So do I! Just down the road, actually. So we might meet up again. You never know, right?"

Draco was a little taken aback at how open he was, how forward. Maybe he was that way all along, Draco thought, plucking out some notes out of his wallet and placing them carefully on the table. "Of course. I just moved here, so it will be nice to see you around."

"Sure it will," Harry said, getting up and grabbing his shopping bags. "It would be _very_ nice."

***

Draco sat in the lone armchair of the small flat he had let, the thin curtains filtering the moonlight with disdain, allowing it to touch the small bed and dresser. It was almost ten o'clock. He shifted in his seat, raising his hips and removing a small envelope from the back pocket of his dark-coloured trousers. He heard his watch chime softly, marking the hour, and he shook a tiny amount of the green dust onto his palm. He stood up and tugged at his bed-clothes (a large shirt and not much else) and strode over the dying fire, flicking the Floo powder in it.

The head of Bellatrix appeared in the low green flames, one eye staring straight at him, the other rolling in another direction. The eye fixed on him was a noxious shade of red with a black slitted iris in the middle of it; the other may have been the original colour of her eyes, but he really couldn't tell. The entire organ was filmed over -- milky, oozing and swollen. Draco suppressed a shudder and composed his face.

"Darling boy," she rasped, her voice seeming to split in half and ride two different octaves. "Did you find Harry Potter?"

The red eye gazed steadily at him while the other winked fitfully, thick pulpy liquid squirming from under thin stubbly lashes.

"Yes, Aunt. I have."

"Good!" she crowed and he saw that most of the teeth in her mouth were blackened pegs. "And so very quickly. I always knew you were a smart one, no matter what Lucius said. Preparations are being made; the dark moon will not rise for a while yet. When that darling boy is brought here, he will be lost to his precious Order... they won't be able to find him. Continue to watch." The red eye seemed to shove closer to Draco, who held to his seat but allowed his gaze to fall. "You've done so well. Redeemed yourself? I would think so."

Draco allowed this all to slide past him and got to what he really considered important. "Is my mother alright?"

Bellatrix threw her head back and gave what might have been a girlish giggle years ago, but now it came out as a harsh series of wheezing gasps.

"Darling boy! Sister dear is quite fine." She tilted her head and closed her eyes in contentment. "She will be fine as soon as Harry Potter is brought here. Continue to do well and she lives…well, we can only hope."

The flames went out suddenly. Draco pulled off his shirt and lay naked under the scratchy comforter, shivering slightly. It seemed he slept only for a few minutes, when the sun blasted through the yellowed curtains. He lay on his back, eyes closed so that the undersides of his eyelids glowed red under the assault of light. He tried not to sigh as he got up, but the sound escaped as he took his luggage out of the night-table top drawer, de-spelled it and pulled out a set of Muggle clothes he had come to like a lot: a pair of snug jeans and a close-fitting white shirt. He put on his glasses and sat down on the bed, taking a small notebook out from under the mattress and flicking it open.

_Wednesdays. Potter is taken to the park by Granger and Tonks. Allowed to walk free sometimes. _

Draco put on trainers, a shoe he felt looked positively horrendous on his feet. It couldn't be helped; although it was almost summer, enthusiastic over-watering made the park soggy in some areas. He walked under a Disillusionment charm to the open green area, sitting down on a shaded park bench. When they finally strolled into view, he couldn't help but slouch a little in his seat; Granger had always had such sharp eyes, charm or not.

He watched as Harry's dark head leaned close to her brown frizz, laughing low together. He had on the same square shades and as he stepped arm-in-arm with Granger. Tonks ambled ahead, her violet eyes sweeping from side to side, resting on the groups of picnicking friends, screeching children and lovers basking in the warm day. One such couple sat down right next to him and launched in some version of snogging that involved far too much smacking sounds; when Harry took a small plastic bag from Tonks and walked alone towards the small lake, he got up hurriedly and followed. Draco slunk under a lovely weeping willow, making sure to keep away from the sight-line of Harry's guardians as Harry flung bits of bread at the birds by the lake. Harry strolled along, clucking his tongue as the ducks followed him and when he was right in front of the tree, Draco called his name.

Harry bent his head and tried to peer through the veil of leaves; Draco parted the branches and smiled.

"Hey!" Harry stepped into the warm green room created by the weeping willow and grinned in greeting as Draco leaned on the broad trunk. "Fancy seeing you again. I mean, I _knew_ I would see you again, but I was hoping...but anyway, how are you?"

"I'm alright. And you?"

Harry squeezed the bag in his hand and actually blushed a little.

"I'm ok. I've told my friends about you, how I've met someone who knew me from before...tall, dark-haired and handsome." Harry laughed self-consciously, pulling at the ends of his own black locks as the ducks quacked outside the wall of leaves in complaint. "I'm sorry...a lot of times I talk without really thinking."

"It's fine," Draco said. _To hell with it. _ "I'm flattered. Really."

Harry blushed again.

"They're here with me...they're always with me, them or others and sometimes it gets really annoying how they want to be near me. I suppose it's for my own good, with the whole memory thing, but it gets old fast, you know?"

Draco thought about the house-elves his father would set on him at the manor to watch him when he was younger and nodded.

"I'd like you to meet them sometime," Harry said shyly. "This...this might seem awfully corny, but I was thinking about you a lot yesterday. I felt if I thought about you enough, you would just pop out of nowhere, and now here you are. Will you come now--?"

"I'm sorry, but I have to go soon. I have a business meeting. Another time, possibly." _Another time, meaning_ never. _Granger would love to skin me alive if she saw me_, Draco thought, and gave Harry a comforting smile. "Maybe I can come rescue you from your friends. Sneak out tonight...let's go clubbing."

Harry's eyes gleamed even as he shook his head. Draco noted that they looked even greener under the canopy of the willow.

"I don't know. They're always telling me to stay home, stay close to one of them-"

"Come on," Draco laughed. "It'll be fun. I'll keep you safe, you know. You don't have to worry."

Harry gave him a coy look from underneath thick black lashes.

"And here I thought you were one of those bad-boy types...it's really tempting though."

Draco pushed off the tree and moved in closer to him, almost in his face as Harry grinned up at him.

"I _am_ one of those bad-boy types. Quite possibly, I shouldn't be trusted. But if you're not up to it..." Draco's voice almost touched on that challenging timbre he used to fling at Harry in school and something flared up in Harry's eyes as he lifted his chin. Draco was suddenly struck with this not-so-crazy temptation to bend his head towards Harry's parted mouth; it wouldn't take much...just a little movement of the head...right _here_-

"The Butterfly Club on the corner of Lyndhurst and Bloomfield. Tonight at ten. Don't be late." Harry's voice was throaty and he looked reluctant to step away, but they both heard Tonks calling for him. "Coming!" He gave Draco a long look. "I'll see you there then, Andre? Just you and I?"

"It's a date," Draco leered and was gratified to see Harry blush again as he pushed through the willow branches.

"Where have you been?" He heard Granger scold.

"Oh...just around. I saw that friend of mine again," Harry answered, their voices growing fainter as they moved further down the bank. Draco didn't hear the rest as he Disapparated from under the tree.

***

The Butterfly Club had two levels, one large dance-floor with a long bar manned by a small army of bartenders and an upper open-air level with a small pool and a smaller bar. Harry had met him with a sneaky smile on his face at the lower bar, his hair mussed and sexy.

"This is a gay bar," Draco deadpanned as Harry flopped onto a stool beside him; Harry laughed.

"Is it? Didn't notice, not with the name and all these muscular men on the dance floor in leather." Harry shuddered. "The day I drag on leather, please, spank me."

Draco looked thoughtful and Harry chuckled again, ordering a daiquiri _and_ a mai-tai. Draco raised his eyebrows and tried not to smile.

"Tell me," Harry said, sipping at one drink and making a face. "What were you like in school?"

"An awful brat," Draco answered immediately. Harry hummed around the rim of his drink. "I mean...we weren't exactly friends in school."

"My cousin Dudley went to great lengths to make sure I didn't have any friends," Harry told him darkly, and Draco sipped at his lager. "He was a great asshole, from what I recall. I went to see my family the other day, and nothing's changed, really. Not even the damn cupboard."

"What cupboard?" Draco asked and listened in amazement as Harry offhandedly recounted some horror stories as if they'd happened only yesterday; maybe to him, they had. Draco had always assumed that Harry'd lived with some eccentric family who indulged such weird idiosyncrasies such as resembling a pauper.

"After all that," Draco murmured, feeling his whole world shift and recompose itself. "I thought you were just being strange. And yet there was something about you, you know? You never seemed to be beaten. No matter how people would upset you."

Harry leaned against him and Draco felt like putting his arm around the man and stroking the long bare flesh on his arm, below the sleeve of his black button-front shirt.

"Flatterer," Harry murmured. "I bet I was a right prat sometimes. I can be, you know. You mustn't trust me either...I'll trample you."

Draco felt his warm breath against the collar of his shirt, the heat of him soaking against Draco's side and leg. He breathed out and thought of his mother, the way she smiled at him when they sat in the hidden corner of the labyrinth she had coaxed out of the ground, whispered tales of brave dragons and frightened knights spinning into the sweetened air around their fair heads. _His mother. Continue to watch...she lives. _

"Would you like to go upstairs?" he asked and Harry pursed his lips in delight.

Harry dragged him up by the hand as they passed entertained couples on the dark stairs, emerging onto the cool starlit night. The pool seemed to glow, and Draco wandered over, musing that they had placed fairy-lights at the bottom. Harry came to stand beside him.

"Funny," Harry commented, peering up at the stars. His small glasses, miles away from his massive shades, were perched at the end of his nose. "Standing here, I feel as if I've known you forever."

"I'm just getting to know you," Draco whispered, feeling Harry's hand press against the dip in his back; he turned to look down at the soft expression on Harry's face. "We've only _just_ met."

Harry leaned his head forward, his eyes fixed on Draco's, almost crossing as he pressed their lips together. Draco watched, enthralled, as Harry's lashes fluttered closed. He closed his own eyes, feeling the press of a warm plump mouth, the curious lick of a tongue when he parted his own lips. He had wanted to do this for so long. Even when he had lain in a Hogwarts' bathroom, bleeding from his chest, he had looked up into Harry's panicked face and had wondered, briefly, what it would be like to touch that mouth and if he could do it before he died. When he had hidden with Snape, the Potions Master had told him blankly one gray morning that he had called Harry's name in the night. _Harry_. Not _Potter_. When he had heard that Harry had destroyed Voldemort, he had been this close to grabbing his mother and fleeing to the Order.

But Aunt Bella had reached her first. Bella and her frightening eyes. The Manor wards had let her in, of course. She was still family, no matter what else was dominating her brain; more the pity that he was forced to let in the rest of the Death Eaters while she held her own sister hostage.

"Harry," he whispered against Harry's mouth, placing his hands on narrow hips and pulling their bodies flush against each other. "Harry, Harry, Harry..."

Harry pulled away, looking at his face in amazement. His eyes were wide and dark in the light of the stars and Draco had to close his own.

"When you say my name like that, I feel as if you're the only one who has ever said it." Draco felt fingers press gently on his eyelids. "Why are your eyes closed?"

_Sometimes when something is so beautiful, it blinds you. You can hardly stand it_, Draco thought, but instead said: "I'm waiting for you to kiss me again."

***

They burst into Draco's small flat, neatened that morning by Draco himself; he pressed Harry against the wall and revelled in the way Harry moaned in his ear, breathless and wordless. Harry was the type of person who seemed to thrive on touch; his hands clutched at Draco's upper arms, roamed his chest and cheekily squeezed his arse. He shivered when Draco pulled at the buttons of his shirt and rubbed a thumb over one tightened nipple.

"Do you?" Harry asked, pushing at Draco so that he could have space to undo his pants. "I mean, if you _want_ to-"

"Yes," Draco said impatiently. He grabbed at Harry's unruly collar and dragged him back to the bed, kissing him furiously. "You talk far too much. For that, you'll do all the work tonight."

Harry was muttering under his breath as Draco lay down and pulled him on top. He pulled off his shirt completely and helped Draco out of his own, sighing as Draco stroked his back while he struggled with their trousers. He gazed down at Draco's bare chest, tracing one finger over the thin raised scars.

"What happened here?" he whispered and without waiting for an answer, pressed his mouth against the damaged skin. Draco held the back of his head, breathing shallowly as Harry ran the tip of his tongue over the length of the blemish. "Did someone hurt you?"

"Someone did," Draco managed as Harry began to explore the curve of his neck, pressing their groins together. Draco felt lightheaded at the feel of Harry's hardening cock pressing into him. "But I provoked them. I'm sure they were very sorry about it."

"I would hope they were. Such skin should never be like this." Harry bit his lip and rocked his hips, grinding down into Draco. "You're very handsome. I flirted shamelessly with you yesterday."

"I noticed." _I was watching. I always have_.

"I want you inside me," Harry whispered and Draco moaned at the thought of it, scrambling under his pillow for a small tube. "Hurry..."

Draco watched with impatient desperation as Harry insisted on preparing himself, kneeling right over him.

"Apparently you've done this before," he noted, trying not to pant as Harry writhed on his own fingers. He fancied he felt a little like Muggle explosives when Harry's fingers grasped him and rolled on a condom swiftly -- as if he was on the brink of being torn apart. He felt a little pleased and shocked that Harry had actually walked around tonight with a condom in his _pocket_. That meant something...actually, that meant a lot.

"Hmm. I think so. I mean, I don't remember, but my body hasn't forgotten," Harry said, removing his hand and went up fully to his knees, grasping Draco's slick cock and holding it upright. "I find I like to read too much porn as well, so..." They both gasped as Harry sank down again, slowly, moving his hips in slow circles that nearly tipped Draco over the edge as he entered the dark tight heat. Harry began a rhythm that was maddeningly pleasurable, looking down at Draco with a smoky smile. Draco placed his hand on Harry's sweaty hip and stroked up the side of his ribs, up over his shoulder and against the smooth column of his neck, resting it against his cheek. Harry turned his head and kissed the side of his palm and Draco unravelled.

He lunged up and grasped Harry, rolling them over until he had the other man on his back, hooking his thumbs under Harry's knees and dragging them up, _wider_, thrusting deep, long, sweet and harsh. Harry arched up under him, crying out, holding so tightly around Draco's neck. Draco locked his hands under Harry's bowed back, feeling Harry's knees press against his sides, his ankles digging into Draco's thrusting arse and Draco wanted to hold him down and stop the rest of the world, so that the moonlight would always lace through Harry's hair the way Draco was now lacing his fingers through Harry's, pinning that hand to the bed beside Harry's head; so that the white sheets would always twist under and around Harry's impossibly long legs the way Harry was twisted all around him, holding desperately onto Draco's sweaty back with his other hand; stop everything (_watch him and she'll be safe_) so that Harry's mouth and body was forever pressed against his.

_Sometimes, when something is so beautiful, you think you hate it at first_, Draco thought violently as Harry's breath degenerated into broken gasps and he closed his eyes and shuddered under Draco. _You know if you can't have it, then you will never be happy again_.

Harry was looking up into his face, smiling slightly, when Draco came.

Draco felt himself float back down, lazy as a feather, going soft and still inside Harry. Harry tilted his hips up and bit the inside of his lip as Draco slipped out slowly.

"I have to go," Harry said softly, hanging onto Draco's neck as Draco tied up the condom and threw it somewhere. "I snuck out, so...I have to leave. Tell me to go."

Draco nosed the damp corner of Harry's neck and shoulder and bit him there gently instead of saying anything.

"Tell me to go and I'll leave. Whatever you want, I'll do."

"Stay." _Stop time with me_.

Draco woke in the morning alone; he daydreamed that Harry had smiled down at his sleeping form as he had put on his clothes and slipped out the door.

***

"Time, time," Bella whispered from the green flames. "It is almost time. Take this." A large copper bracelet rolled out of the fireplace, three flat strands woven into a delicate rounded braid. "You are his friend now, yes? And your mother is fine, do not ask me again. A friend in deed. Time, time...time for me to rise again. The Dark Moon rises tomorrow. The Dark Lord...time, time."

Draco did not pick up the bracelet until Bellatrix's face, swollen and yet strangely crushed, faded out from the fireplace.

***

"I wish you would come meet my friends," Harry complained as he sat in Draco's lap and succumbed to Draco's questing tongue in his ear. A solid sheet of summer rain blocked the view out of Draco's lone window. "Ron caught me trying to climb out the window like a fucking teenager and I had to pretend I had been sleepwalking. Can you imagine? Mmmm. Dre, do that again. It's a lucky thing I know how to disable the...alarm system."

"Your friends don't know about us," Draco said, actually trying to ask and Harry wriggled, pressing down onto his erection enthusiastically. Draco grabbed onto his arm to stop him, but Harry only squirmed more.

"I have to admit, it's a bit exciting this way. But I supposed you'll get tired of me soon." Harry gave a particularly strong wriggle here. "Travelling businessmen like you get bored easily, I think. You'll probably have some other company to see to, and I'll be left here with my friends again."

_Sometimes, when something is so beautiful, you feel you want to push it away and never see it again. You want to grow annoyed at its presence because you know you will never get enough. _

"I won't get bored. I can't." He pulled out the bracelet and thought of his mother. "Take this. I got it for you."

Draco had two thoughts run simultaneously through his head as Harry took the bracelet gleefully. One was _Harry, I thought I told you not to trust me_. The other one, as Harry pulled it over his wrist, shoving until it reached to his upper arm and fit snugly under the sleeve of his shirt, was _I'm a Malfoy. I can have it both ways; you and my mother safe. Time...time_. He didn't realize that Harry had been talking to him until Harry touched the side of his face inquisitively.

"I was saying thanks," Harry pointed out as Draco raised his eyebrows. "Or maybe I should try a different way?" He put his cheek against Draco's and hugged him; Draco had never been hugged by anyone apart from his mother. He put his arms around Harry and squeezed until Harry yelled out in amused annoyance.

***

_Time, time, _ said Bellatrix.

***

The night of the new moon was warm and Draco watched Harry at dinner with Granger, Weasley and Tonks. He had grinned slightly when Harry claimed that he wanted to sit in the open-air section of the restaurant. Draco peered through the glass windows from his secluded seat and watched as the night-air caressed Harry's hair, taking dark strands and stroking it across his face.

Harry laughed at something Weasley said and pinched him; Draco felt a hot rush in his stomach and tried to eat the chicken curry placed in front of him. Tonight was going to be a long night.

"I'll just be a few minutes. _No_, Ron, I can use the bathroom on my own," Harry was saying wryly over his shoulder as he came inside and passed right where Draco sat hunched over his half-eaten meal. Draco counted to fifteen before he got up and went towards the men's bathroom, taking the opportunity as he walked down the abandoned corridor to banish one layer of charms over his body, the one that had him disguised as an old man, so that the other layer would show, his usual one of a slim man with black hair and blue eyes. Harry was at the sink as he opened the door, and those green eyes widened when they landed on him.

"Dre!" Harry spun and grabbed haphazardly at some paper-towels, drying his hands before flinging them around him. Draco held him tightly and listened to him talk. "I didn't expect you here! My friends are outside, you can't run away from them now, you'll come and meet-"

"Harry, do you trust me?" Draco murmured in his hair, smelling the wind and the stars in it. Harry pulled back and looked in his face, frowning. "Do you?"

"What?" Harry's frown became deeper and he looked at his own upper arm. "Dre, the bracelet is getting warm."

"Trust me, Harry. Please. It will be alright."

Harry grimaced and Draco held onto him. The door to the bathroom was shoved open and Weasley stepped in, his face goggling almost comically even as he reached for his wand. Draco felt the familiar hook catch behind his bellybutton; he heard both Weasley and Harry shout out and the restaurant bathroom flashed out of view, the walls of the Manor spinning into its place. He felt the wards resist slightly as he was flung into space with Harry and then the push was gone.

He tried to land so that he would end up cushioning Harry, but they tumbled onto a cold stone floor and rolled together. There was a resounding crack and Harry's body, which had been tense throughout the fall, went limp against his hands. He scrambled up, ignoring his own spinning head and checked Harry. He was still breathing.

"Time, time," Bellatrix's voice croaked in the dark, and candles lit up all around them. She stood in the middle of a half-circle of hooded figures. "As young Harry has taken my body, so I shall take his. His power and mine shall be as one."

"What will happen to Aunt Bellatrix?" Draco asked as some of the figures gently lifted Harry and placed him on a conjured pallet, tying his hands and feet down. Harry only let out a small groan and Draco longed to press his fingers soothingly against the small lump forming on Harry's forehead, where he had thumped it against the floor. Bella's red eye winked at him; she smiled as she gathered long flowing gray robes around her body, holding silky material between bony fingers.

"We will be fine. Do you not want to see your mother? Come. Preparations are nearly complete. Time...time."

Draco didn't know much about necromancy, but he was quite sure that the remaining essence of the Dark Lord contained in Bellatrix's ravaged body would not leave her breathing when it finally decided to leave. Harry's frame -- young, whole and magically powerful -- would be a perfect vessel. Draco cast a quick look over his shoulder as he was guided out of the room.

_Sometimes when something is so beautiful, you feel you'd do anything to save it. _

His mother was locked in a small dark room near her own apartments and she clutched at him immediately when Death Eaters shoved him inside, silent tears pressed in on his shirt. He held her close and stroked her hair, so very like his own when he finally allowed the colour-charm to melt away. Narcissa looked up into his face and tried to smile but didn't succeed.

"Mother," Draco said, pulling her to her feet and standing close to the door, listening for any movement outside. "Mother, I'm going to get us out of here. And Harry too."

Narcissa only shivered in his embrace. When he tried to open the door, a strong locking charm repelled him. He pulled his wand out of the slim pocket he had spelled onto his trousers and aimed.

"Be very careful," his mother muttered wearily, her voice raspy from lack of use. "There might be an alarm. I didn't know how to take them off."

"_Revelo_," Draco muttered and rubbed his wand-hand over his mouth as different layers of spells on the door shimmered into sight. Here, a blue one keyed to the caster, would cause a vibrating sensation and klaxon-noise when this red seal, floating over the door handle, was broken. He took a steadying breath and worked first on trying to deactivate the alarming-charm, removing the keying-link and then putting a muffle on the noise charm. The red-seal was much harder, bracing the door shut with a tremendous amount of force. Draco was not a Malfoy for nothing, however, and he finally managed to convince the seal to pivot the other way, allowing the door to open.

"Come," he said after he made sure that the hallway was clear and he found himself literally carrying her up through the back corridors of the Malfoy Manor, dodging into hidden alcoves just as he used to do as a child hiding from his father. Even from these upper levels, he could hear chanting in the dungeons and he finally stood half-wheezing in front of the room they had locked Harry in.

Harry seemed to be talking fitfully to himself.

"Harry!" he whispered loudly though the heavy wood of the door, supporting Narcissa's light weight easily. The muttering stopped suddenly. "Harry, give me a few minutes. I'll get you out of there." He murmured the revealing spell and nearly descended into sheer un-Malfoy-like panic upon seeing the amount of spells placed on this door. He put Narcissa on a window seat nearby, dragging the curtains to hide her, and went desperately to work on the layers, banishing them almost too slowly. "Harry, it's me. I just need a little more time."

Harry started on the murmuring again and Draco desperately began to slice the different strata of spells. He was at the fourth level or so when he realized that the chanting from the dungeons had stopped and there was the sound of many footsteps coming towards him and his mother.

And Harry.

"Time, time," he could hear Bellatrix chant; Draco was forcing a password charm to unlock. He suddenly felt a strange sensation all around, as if the building flexed in on itself and he actually heard a soft snapping sound in his own head. He had only felt that sensation once before; albeit _very_ briefly, when lordship of the Manor had transferred from his father to himself. Narcissa gasped.

"The Manor wards," she whispered from behind the thick red curtain. "They're down."

"Step away from the door," Harry said quite clearly and Draco backed off as Aurors Apparated all around him. There was uproar of grim battle, too rapid for Draco to take note; but he was watching the remaining spells melt off the door so it could open and Harry strode out, wand in hand.

"Time's up," he said softly, pointing it towards Bellatrix, the green light almost blinding Draco as it engulfed her shrieking, rotting body.

***

_Sometimes, something can be too beautiful. _

Draco sat inside a small square room deep inside the Ministry of Magic, answering questions from Aurors lazily. He had managed to get a package of cigarettes from one of them and had gone through half of it before they were finished. As they were getting up to leave, tapping their parchment folders into neater sheaves, Draco asked to see Harry.

He waited patiently until the door re-opened and Harry walked in wearing Muggle clothing, jeans and a white t-shirt; he sat directly across from Draco, running a hand through his hair and accepting a cigarette with the other.

"I believe," Draco said in a low voice, watching Harry light the cigarette with his wand, "that you are by far the most excellent actor I have ever come across. Really."

Harry did not look at him; he took a deep drag and his gaze slid to the window that was charmed to show whatever weather was going on up on the London streets. A hazy day slanted weak sunshine inside; Draco stared at the twin jade-lines of Harry's eyes partly hidden below his lashes.

"Do you know how old the Manor is?" Draco said in a conversational tone, lighting one cigarette with the other. "Centuries. So are the wards for that matter, and those old types are fairly complex. Tuned to the lord of the household...their emotions, too. So if the lord of the manor _feels_ a certain way about a person, so do the wards. Up to the point of _obeying_ that person as well. I suppose the reason why you took so long to ask them to come down was because there were so many layers. Am I right?"

Harry exhaled smoke through his nostrils and licked his lips. He nodded, slowly.

"Did you really lose your memory after you fought Voldemort?" Draco asked and Harry's gaze flicked to his face, but not his eyes.

"Yes."

"For how long?" Draco grilled, feeling like an Auror himself. "And how long did you know about Bellatrix and what the Dar--_Voldemort_ was doing?"

"Which question do you want answered first?" Harry inspected the cigarettes between his first and middle fingers. Draco closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Answer them in fucking _order_."

Harry finally met his eyes and Draco hated himself just for wanting to stop the rest of the world.

"Just for a few weeks after that battle. It was just how I told you, a big chunk of time missing. It wasn't hard getting your spies to find out what happened to me. We knew about Bellatrix for a long while though." Harry rubbed at one eye delicately under the frame of his glasses. Draco noted that the scar on his forehead was extremely faint, almost completely faded away. Maybe a few weeks more and it would be gone. "I kept having visions out of her head after I got back my memory. It was easier keeping her and whatever bit of Voldemort left out of my mind."

"They weren't _my_ spies. They never were...and you and your little golden troupe knew about the Manor wards-"

Harry smiled slightly.

"Those were impossible to break, even for Lupin and I. We couldn't get through them at all...Hermione found out about them though. I already knew that Bellatrix was going to send _you_."

"And you knew. You _knew_ what was going to happen between us."

Harry had the gall to keep smiling.

"Didn't _you_?"

"No, I didn't." Draco stood and glared down to him. "So what's to happen now?"

Harry got to his feet as well and handed him a rolled document.

"I gave a statement. You were acting under duress. You even attempted to save me."

"Lovely. And all this time, _you_ were just _acting_," Draco snarled in as icy a voice as he could muster, pulling the document out of Harry's hand and stalking out of the interrogation room, meeting his lawyer in the corridor, completely missing when Harry turned, considered his chair and thoughtfully kicked it over.

***

Draco supposed that what he was doing was technically was referred to as stalking, but he had had a little conversation with the Malfoy family legal representative and such technicalities could be overcome with a little slick talking. Besides, he was used to watching Harry. It was possibly the most relaxing activity after arguing all day with Ministry officials and haranguing his mother to try and eat more. Harry lived in the most normal of flats, had a minimal amount of visitors and seemed to subsist entirely on takeaway Chinese. Where he put all that chicken chow mein was a mystery to Draco. Another strange and not unwelcome occurrence was Harry's extended hiatus from the Aurors.

"How long are you going to stand there tonight?" Harry said tiredly, leaning out of a second-floor window and pointing at him with chopsticks. "Are you planning to hex me for lying to you and all that? Because you didn't exactly come clean either. I told you not to trust me, you know."

Draco _had_ actually considered the whole hex thing. He had even made up a list. "No," he said.

"Liar," Harry observed. "Come on up. Two Seventeen."

Draco had almost passed Apartment 215 to reach the very last apartment in the corridor when he felt Harry's wards press against him. _Old-fashioned wards_.

_Let me in_, he thought at the wards. "Let me pass," he muttered aloud, and held himself upright as the wards dissolved.

_Sometimes something is so beautiful_, Draco thought as he knocked on Harry's door. _You have to lie all around it so you can see the truth. _


End file.
